Recent Karen Voight Interview..

[Vintage VFer]

Originally Posted by eam531

In my opinion, anyone who is a fitness instructor in LA, especially to female celebrities, can't show signs of aging without a major loss in income. As I said earlier, LA is the most appearance-oriented place on the planet. It might be regrettable, but I think instructors who alter their appearance do so for business reasons more so than for any personal feelings of inadequacy.

Recently I was struck by a post right here on VF in which someone wrote that a noted older instructor's physique was not "inspiring". So even here, instructors are not able to show any signs of aging, at least to some people. I hope it doesn't go against guidelines to point this out.

Yeah, about ten years ago, someone else made a similar comment about not being inspired by "older" instructors. Well, that VFer is about ten years older. I wonder if her idea of inspiration has changed?

[cataddict]

Wow, the production "quality" is really lacking. I don't know who would look attractive in that lighting regardless of age. I also wish Karen had made different choices but I can't imagine the pressure on a woman in particular in an appearance-based industry so I'm trying not to judge. It was nice to see/hear from Karen. Her "Energy Sprint" was conceptually ground breaking and predated some of the supposedly "new" fitness ideology today. Thanks for sharing!

[Jennifer R]

Originally Posted by cataddict

Wow, the production "quality" is really lacking. I don't know who would look attractive in that lighting regardless of age. I also wish Karen had made different choices but I can't imagine the pressure on a woman in particular in an appearance-based industry so I'm trying not to judge. It was nice to see/hear from Karen. Her "Energy Sprint" was conceptually ground breaking and predated some of the supposedly "new" fitness ideology today. Thanks for sharing!

I thought the same thing, cataddict. All I saw in Karen was a beautiful woman who is showing the normal passage of time in a graceful manner. I too still have and do many of her workouts and continue to appreciate them.

[Taiga]

Originally Posted by cataddict

Wow, the production "quality" is really lacking... It was nice to see/hear from Karen. Her "Energy Sprint" was conceptually ground breaking and predated some of the supposedly "new" fitness ideology today. Thanks for sharing!

I felt the same way about production quality (and the interviewer!). My vidiot sensibilities were bothered that one of our fitness "giants" wasn't given better production standards/more of a red carpet. I realize that is just a vidiot thing though...

Originally Posted by Jennifer R

I thought the same thing, cataddict. All I saw in Karen was a beautiful woman who is showing the normal passage of time in a graceful manner..

Also, just to clarify, I never commented on attractiveness or beauty and I feel that would be inappropriate. I mentioned only that her features (facial structure etc) had changed and I missed that familiar face. Natural aging leaves that individuality whereas implants/injections/surgical tightening seem to create completely different features. There is a warmness and nostalgia in the familiarity of a face. I wish our society could better appreciate that.

[Gancho Girl]

Misty Tripoli has talked a lot about the pressures that instructors are placed under to maintain "the look", and how this caused her to have lots of unhealthy lifestyle choices in order to look the way she was expected to look.

And from wanting to get away from all of that, she created THE GROOVE! Which has no expectations around how you should look or move.

[boakley]

Well this thread inspired me to do YPB last night - one of my all time favorite workouts Love the music and Karen is awesome in this - she's always been a fav of mine. Happy to hear in the interview she's considering making new workouts.

But the interviewer almost made me stop listening - she kept interrupting and cutting Karen off. I wanted to scream at her

Beth

[donnamp]

I have also pulled out my KV workouts again - really enjoying them. Today I did her Ab & Back Reform (well, part of it before I ran out of time!) - it was lovely. Good music, good stretches, a nice balance of ab and back work.

I may do the workout she did w/ Elle tomorrow - I think it is on You Tube, although I do have a VHS copy. I wish that one had made it to DVD.

Donna

[JENILU]

Originally Posted by boakley

Well this thread inspired me to do YPB last night - one of my all time favorite workouts Love the music and Karen is awesome in this - she's always been a fav of mine. Happy to hear in the interview she's considering making new workouts.

But the interviewer almost made me stop listening - she kept interrupting and cutting Karen off. I wanted to scream at her

Beth

I keep wondering if maybe the interview is old and someone else reposted it? It would be nice if it is new, because of the idea of new workouts, but that was the first thing that made me wonder. I've never seen it elsewhere, so I don't know, but it does seem amateurish compared to others I have watched. I wish I knew or could find out.

[cataddict]

Originally Posted by Taiga

I felt the same way about production quality (and the interviewer!). My vidiot sensibilities were bothered that one of our fitness "giants" wasn't given better production standards/more of a red carpet. I realize that is just a vidiot thing though...



Also, just to clarify, I never commented on attractiveness or beauty and I feel that would be inappropriate. I mentioned only that her features (facial structure etc) had changed and I missed that familiar face. Natural aging leaves that individuality whereas implants/injections/surgical tightening seem to create completely different features. There is a warmness and nostalgia in the familiarity of a face. I wish our society could better appreciate that.

Taiga, I hope you didn't take my post as scolding you in any way--not at all what I intended! And I totally agree with your comments and clarification.

Jenilu, I'm now wondering the same thing about whether the interview is less recent than we thought.

[Taiga]

Originally Posted by cataddict

Taiga, I hope you didn't take my post as scolding you in any way--not at all what I intended!..

Not at all